MACC and CIRCLE Offer Campus Voting Data

MACC is partnering with the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement’s (CIRCLE’s) National Study on Learning, Voting and Engagement (NSLVE). Through this partnership, MACC members can receive free information about campus registration and voting rates. More than 260 campuses have already signed up by simply signing one form (there are no surveys).

After signing up, campuses will receive a confidential and individual report with their registration and voting rates as well as how these rates break down by field of study, class level, age, gender. To check out a sample of this report, click here.

What are campuses doing with this data?

Adding it to their Carnegie Community Engagement Classification application.

Using this information as a baseline assessment for community, service-learning and civic programming.

Bringing this information to their student government and using it as a conversation starter for talks about civic engagement on campus.

Comparing their voting rates with their peers by Institutional Carnegie Classification.

If enough Massachusetts campuses sign up, campuses can receive information about their voting rates in comparison to the other campuses in the state.

CIRCLE only receives de-identified student data. This means that if you have one student from Alaska attending your institution, the clearinghouse will not send us this student’s information to ensure students are not identified

Of the 260 campuses that participated in the first round, many brought the NSLVE to in-house attorneys to ensure that privacy laws were being upheld. In each case, the campus signed the next day.